Multimodal Information Services

1. A system for providing multimodal information services, comprising: a multimodal information service application configured for providing the multimodal information services to a user; and a multimodal platform configured for facilitating the multimodal information service application to provide the multimodal information services to the user, wherein the multimodal information service application is capable of receiving, through a first network, a request sent by the user via a communication device, and obtaining the information in a source modality from an information source, via a second network, the multimodal information service application is further capable of providing the information requested by the user in a destination modality to the user via the communication device, where the destination modality is determined automatically based at least in part on the communication device.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the communication device includes at least one of: a wireless phone; a PDA; a pager; a facsimile device; and an e-mail mechanism.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first network and the second network include at least one of: the Internet; an intranet; a wireless network; and a public service telephony network.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the information source includes at least one of: a database; a web site; and an application.

5. A system for a multimodal platform, comprising: a multimodal interaction enabling mechanism capable of generating multimodal data based on data in a source modality in accordance with at least one destination modality automatically determined based in part on corresponding at least one communication device receiving the multimodal data; and a multimodal connection mechanism capable of switching multimodal data to at least one channel appropriate for the at least on destination modality through which the multimodal data are transmitted.

6. The system according to claim 5 , wherein the multimodal connection mechanism comprises: at least one data channel for transferring data in at least one modality; and a channel switching mechanism for routing multimodal data to at least one data channel appropriate to the multimodal data.

7. The system according to claim 5 , wherein the multimodal interaction enabling mechanism comprises: a data adapter for rendering data in the source modality into data in the at least one destination modality, the data in the source modality being obtained from an information source; and an adapted data storage for storing data in the at least one destination modality, rendered by the data adapter.

8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the data adapter comprises: an application interface configured for performing interaction between the multimodal platform and a multimodal information service application; a data retrieval mechanism configured for accessing the data in the source modality from the information source; and a multimodal data rendering mechanism configured for rendering the data in the source modality into the data in the at least one destination modality.

9. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the multimodal data rendering mechanism comprises at least one of: an electronic mail renderer for rendering the data in source modality into an electronic mail; a facsimile renderer for rendering the data in source modality into a facsimile; a paging renderer for rendering the data in source modality into a paging message; a text-to-speech renderer for rendering data in text modality into data in speech modality; and a speech-to-text renderer for rendering data in speech modality into data in text modality.

10. A system for a voice-enabled information service, comprising: a dialog unit configured for performing a voice based dialog with an information user; a voice clipboard configured for storing the content of the voice based dialog; a request queue configured for storing a service request from the information user made during the voice based dialog, the service request requesting information to be delivered to the information user in a destination modality determined automatically based in part on a communication device used to receive the information; a multimodal platform configured for accessing the service request and generating the information in the destination modality; and a result queue configured for storing the information in the destination modality.

11. A system for multimodal e-business alert service, comprising: a multimodal e-business alert configuration that dictates different aspects of how the multimodal e-business alert service is to behave; and a multimodal e-business alert unit capable of generating a multimodal e-business alert based on a multimodal e-business alert specification contained in an event issued by an e-business provider and the multimodal e-business alert configuration, wherein the multimodal e-business alert, once generated, being sent to an e-business consumer in accordance with the multimodal e-business alert specification.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the multimodal e-business alert unit comprises: at least one incoming request queue configured for queuing an event from the e-business provider; an e-business alert request issuer configured for constructing an e-business alert request based on an event and activating a multimodal platform in accordance with the e-business alert request; and at least one outgoing request queue configured for queuing the e-business alert request, where the at least one outgoing alert queue is coupled to the multimodal platform and each outgoing request queue corresponds to a modality, an e-business alert request queued in each outgoing queue is accessed by the multimodal platform to generate an e-business alert in at least one destination modality.

13. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one incoming request queue comprises at least one of: a first incoming queue for queuing an event, received from the e-business provider, that specifies that a multimodal e-business alert is to be sent to the e-business consumer as soon as possible; and a second incoming queue for queuing an event, received from the e-business provider, that specifies that a multimodal e-business alert is to be sent to the e-business consumer at a given time.

14. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one outgoing request queue comprises at least one of: a facsimile queue configured for queuing an e-business alert request for sending an e-business alert to the e-business consumer via facsimile; an electronic mail queue configured for queuing an e-business alert for sending an e-business alert to the e-business consumer via an electronic mail; a pager queue configured for queuing an e-business alert request for sending an e-business alert to the e-business consumer via a pager; and a voice queue for queuing an e-business alert request for sending an e-business alert to the e-business consumer via a voice channel.

15. The system according to claim 12 , further comprising: a response queue configured for storing an outcome associated with sending an e-business alert to the e-business consumer; and a history database for storing information related to the history of sending e-business alerts to and receiving responses from the e-business consumer.

16. A system for an e-business provider, comprising: a detector configured for detecting a condition associated with a multimodal e-business alert specified by an e-business consumer; an event constructor configured for constructing an event when the condition is detected, wherein the event includes an multimodal e-business alert specification comprising information relating to a multimodal e-business alert to be sent to an e-business consumer; a transmitter configured for sending the event to a multimodal c-business alert service provider, requesting the multimodal c-business alert service provider to send the multimodal e-business alert to the e-business consumer.

17. A method for multimodal information services, comprising: receiving a service request via a first network, the service request being sent by an information user via a communication device; identifying an information source from where the requested information desired by the information user can be obtained; determining a source modality of the requested information; determining automatically at least one destination modality in which the requested information is to be delivered to the information user; retrieving the requested information in the source modality from the information source; rendering the requested information in the source modality into the at least one destination modality when the source modality differs from the at least one destination modality; switching the requested information in the at least one destination modality to one or more channels appropriate for the at least one destination modality; and sending the requested information in the at least one destination modality through the one or more channels to the information user via a second network.

18. The method according to claim 17 , further comprising storing the requested information in the at least one destination modality in an adapted data storage for future access.

19. A method for voice-enabled information service, comprising: automatically conducting a conversation with an information user through a communication device; updating a clipboard based on the conversation; processing the conversation to extract a request for information made by the information user during the conversation, determining automatically a destination modality in which the information is to be sent to the information user; rendering the information into the destination modality; and sending the information in the destination modality to the information user.

20. A method for multimodal e-business alert service, comprising: constructing a multimodal e-business alert configuration that dictates different aspects of how the multimodal e-business alert service is to behave; receiving an event, generated by an e-business provider, wherein the event requesting the multimodal e-business alert service to send an e-business alert to an e-business consumer, the event including a multimodal e-business alert specification comprising information relating to how the e-business alert is to be sent to the e-business consumer; sending a multimodal e-business alert to the e-business consumer based on the multimodal e-business alert configuration and the e-business alert specification, wherein the multimodal e-business alert being represented in at least one destination modality.

21. The method according to claim 20 , wherein the multimodal c-business alert is sent via one or more channels appropriate for the at least one destination modality.

22. The method according to claim 21 , wherein the at least one destination modality is determined automatically based at least in part on a type of communication device pre-specified by the c-business consumer.

23. The method according to claim 20 , wherein the multimodal e-business alert specification comprises a push including information relating the multimodal e-business alert to the e-business consumer.

24. The method according to claim 23 , wherein the push specifies an alternative destination modality to send the multimodal e-business alert to the e-business consumer if the sending the multimodal e-business alert in at least one destination modality is not successful.

25. A machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for multimodal information services, the instructions, upon being read by a machine, causing the machine to perform the following: receiving a service request from an information user via a first network, the request being sent through a communication device; identifying an information source from where the requested information desired by the information user can be obtained; determining a source modality of the requested information; determining automatically at least one destination modality in which the requested information is to be delivered to the information user; retrieving the requested information in the source modality from the information source; rendering the requested information in the source modality into requested information in the at least one destination modality when the source modality differs from the at least one destination modality; switching the requested information in the at least one destination modality to one or more channels appropriate for the at least one destination modality; and sending the requested information in the at least one destination modality through the one or more channels to the information user via a second network.

26. The medium according to claim 25 , the instructions, upon being read by a machine, further causing the machine to store the information in the at least one destination modality in an adapted data storage.

27. A machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for voice-enabled information service, the instructions, upon being read by a machine, causing the machine to perform the following: automatically conducting a conversation with an information user through a communication device; updating a clipboard based on the conversation; processing the conversation to extract a request for information made by the information user during the conversation, determining automatically at least one destination modality in which the information is to be sent to the information user; rendering the information into the at least one destination modality; and sending the information in the at least one destination modality to the information user.

28. A machine-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon for providing multimodal e-business alert service, the instructions, when read by a machine, causing the machine to perform the following: accessing a multimodal e-business alert configuration that dictates different aspects of how the multimodal e-business alert service is to behave; receiving an event, generated by an e-business provider, wherein the event requesting the multimodal e-business alert service to send an e-business alert to an e-business consumer, the event including a multimodal e-business alert specification comprising information relating to how the e-business alert is to be sent to the e-business consumer; sending a multimodal e-business alert to the e-business consumer based on the multimodal e-business alert configuration and the e-business alert specification, wherein the multimodal e-business alert being represented in at least one destination modality.

29. A machine-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon for providing multimodal e-business alert service, for requesting a multimodal e-business alert service, the instructions, when read by a machine, causing the machine to perform the following: detecting a condition associated with a multimodal e-business alert service provided to an e-business consumer, wherein the condition is defined by the e-business consumer; constructing an event when the condition is detected, wherein the event includes an multimodal e-business alert specification comprising information relating to a multimodal e-business alert to be sent to an e-business consumer; sending the event to a multimodal e-business alert service provider, requesting the multimodal e-business alert service provider to send the multimodal e-business alert to the e-business consumer.